5. In our investigations into the working of the moral sense, we found, that there was a marked difference between the decisions of conscience when judging of actions done by _ourselves_, and those which were performed by _others_. As long as the child is innocent of any particular vice, he can judge impartially of its nature and demerit; but when the temptation to commit it has really begun to darken his mind, and more particularly when he has at last fallen before it, all the selfish principles of his nature are employed to deceive his better judgment, and to drown or overbear the voice of conscience within him. From this we learn the importance of preparing the mind _beforehand_, for encountering those temptations to which the pupil will most likely be exposed; not only by teaching him to draw the proper lessons from corresponding subjects, but by making him apply these lessons to his own case and affairs. The teacher is to suppose circumstances, in which he, his parents, and companions, are most likely to be placed, and in which the lessons drawn from the narrative will be required to weaken or to prevent the influences of temptation. As, for example, it might be asked, "If you had accidentally broken a pane of glass, and your parents asked you who did it, what should you do?" There would in this case, while it was only supposed, be no temptation to stifle conscience, or to bend to the influences of selfishness or fear, and the child would accordingly answer readily, that he ought to confess his fault, and tell that he himself had done it. When again asked, "From what do you get that lesson?" he will most probably reply, "From Jacob telling a lie to his parent;--from Ananias and Sapphira telling a lie;--from the command, 'Lie not one to another,' and 'Confess your faults one to another,'" &c. By this means the child is forewarned;--he is prepared and fortified against the sin, if the temptation should occur; but which would not have been the case without this or some similar exercise.